Birdfoot's Grampa Analysis

Humans often believe that we rule the world, making us the only important species in existence. Because of this people often don’t think about how powerful a small life can be. They don’t think about the little creatures roaming the earth and how they impact the world, so they just kick them aside. But others actually see the importance and beauty in the wild creatures. In both “Birdfoot’s Grampa” by Joseph Bruchac, and “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford, the characters confront a similar question. Is saving lives of animals worth my time? We can see that both characters value life, but the man in “Traveling Through the Dark” faces and even harder decision than the man in “Birdfoot’s Grampa” does. Through the contrasts in both characters and mood, the authors explore the same theme through two different situations.
In “Birdfoot’s
The theme of “Birdfoot’s Grampa” is that no matter how big or small, all life has value. This is demonstrated through the old man saving the toads. Despite all the complaints from the younger person in the car, the old man just says (Lines 19-20) “They have places to go too,” and continues saving the toads. The theme of “Traveling Through the Dark” is similar to the theme of “Birdfoot’s Grampa”, but differs slightly. The theme of “Traveling Through the Dark” is that all life is valuable, whether it is fully alive and healthy, or is on the brink of death. This is why the speaker has such a hard time deciding what to do in that situation. If he pushes the deer over the cliff, the doe will die, but anyone who travels on the road will be safe. If he does nothing, the doe will live, but the chances of a human wrecking increases. If he tries to deliver the doe, it may die in the process, and if it lives it would most likely die soon after since the development process was cut short. The list of choices goes on, and as a new option pops into the head of the speaker, the harder it becomes to come to a